Bay Shore affordable apartments: High demand for housing that outpaces supply, advocates say

Nearly 1,300 people have applied for 84 affordable rental apartments at a new luxury complex in downtown Bay Shore, highlighting a demand for housing that far outpaces supply on Long Island, housing advocates say. 

More than half of the apartments planned for the former Touro College campus, from studios to one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, will be ready to rent in November, a spokesperson for the developer said. The 418-unit complex, called Shoregate, has been in the works since 2018 and is being built by Tritec, the company behind other major projects such as the $1 billion Station Yards in Ronkonkoma.

Pricing for the market rate units range from $2,480 to $5,300, while pricing for affordable units range from $1,991 to $2,751.

Households with incomes at or below 80% of the Nassau/Suffolk area median income, as established by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and Islip Town, can apply. The rents are capped based on requirements set by the town and include a utility allowance, according to the Long Island Housing Partnership, an affordable housing organization overseeing the distribution process for the Tritec development. 

The Town of Islip required Tritec to set aside 20% of the total units as affordable when approving the developer’s application to build in Bay Shore, the developer said.

Local law requires developers to set aside 10% or 20% of units in new multifamily developments as affordable, depending on location, the town said.

The housing partnership president and CEO, Peter Elkowitz, said he expects more applications to roll in before the Sept. 18 deadline. The applicants’ names are randomized and placed on a waiting list in a ranked order via lottery. 

Elkowitz said the number of applicants for the Bay Shore development is "normal." More than 1,000 applicants applying for a lottery has been more common lately "because of the need for additional affordable units here on Long Island."

“What we've seen is that there's an insatiable demand right now for housing at all price points,” said Chris Kelly, vice president of marketing at Tritec. 

Elsewhere on Long Island, separate from the housing partnership, about 120 first-time homebuyers in Greenport threw their hat in the ring this summer for the chance to buy five affordable condominium units in a new waterfront building. Also this summer, more than 500 people applied for 18 affordable apartments in Westbury.

While housing advocates have said efforts to include affordable units in new developments like Shoregate are helpful for renters, they say it’s not enough. 

“Obviously for the numbers of applications versus the numbers of available units, we need this [to be] scaled up 10 times, 15 times more," said Ian Wilder, executive director of Long Island Housing Services, Inc. “We also need housing for people at lower price points. … This is not a criticism of the builder, this is a criticism of how we handle housing.” 

Martin Cantor, director of the Long Island Center for Socio-Economic Policy, said the 84 affordable units in Bay Shore are “laudable,” but not “even a drop in the bucket” toward solving housing needs on Long Island. 

“Should we applaud the effort? Absolutely. But will it make a dent? No.”

Sherien Dennis, 42, who rents a two-bedroom apartment in Bay Shore with her 14-year-old and 2-year-old daughters, applied for the Shoregate apartments in hopes that the opportunity will allow her to continue living in the community she loves. 

"I'm in a two-bedroom small apartment right now, paying an arm and a leg, and it barely fits me and my two kids. ... I need a bigger space," she said. 

Over the past five years, the Town of Islip has approved the development of approximately 1,040 affordable units in multifamily developments, Supervisor Angie Carpenter said in an email. That number doesn’t include approved accessory apartments.

Carpenter said the town offers tax exemptions and other incentives for developers who set aside affordable units. Projects in some zoning districts may also be permitted to increase density up to 10% if the difference will provide more affordable units.

Statewide, Gov. Kathy Hochul over the summer announced New York will provide $650 million to local governments, including those on Long Island, that seek to expand housing as part of her new plan to combat the housing affordability crisis. 

Hochul has also continued to pitch a plan — criticized by many Long Island lawmakers, including Carpenter — to combat a housing affordability crisis across the state that would require annual benchmarks for housing growth; provide $250 million to pay for new roads and municipal services; and establish a state board that could overrule local zoning laws to break down barriers to building new apartments and houses.

By Brianne Ledda

brianne.ledda@newsday.com@brianne_ledda

Brianne Ledda covers the Town of Islip for Newsday. She previously covered Southold and Greenport for The Suffolk Times and is a graduate of Stony Brook University.